The Practitioner in Psychological Trauma MSc has been established to support professionals working with people affected by trauma to develop professional competences to provide psychological services to those who require specialised trauma care. Throughout, the MSc operates within a framework of understanding and stressing the idiosyncratic care needs of service users is stressed in order to provide an integrated and holistic approach to specialist trauma care. In addition, it will also equip students with skills to develop trauma informed practice within their organisations and team.

As a taught part time MSc offered over 18 months / two years, the course adopts a holistic approach to the needs of people who have been exposed to trauma. The structure and content of the MSc follow the level three ‘trauma expert’ competencies outlined by the British Psychological Society (Karatzias & Buxton, 2016) for working with people with psychological trauma related needs.

Throughout the course emphasis is placed on the importance of increasing core skills of self-awareness, including of awareness of one’s own professional and academic needs, as well as promoting self-care and accessing appropriate supervision. In recognition of the challenges of working with traumatised and complex populations, attendees are assigned a personal tutor who will offer support during the course, with minimum of one meeting per semester. Group reflective practice and support sessions also run throughout the MSc.

In module one the course lays the foundations to developing advanced practitioner skills through exploring key concepts and theories that underpin our understanding psychological trauma, including covering recent diagnostic developments and innovations in neurobiology. Adopting a holistic approach to understanding trauma, this module stresses the importance of understanding individual factors, including structural inequalities and multiple disadvantages in the service user’s life experience, and how these impacts on the presentation of trauma and their contact and experiences with services. This includes the cultural competence of current approaches to trauma and gender inclusivity needs. In addition, the evidence for and limitations of key concepts in trauma and current diagnostic nosology for different populations are presented, to support learners to develop critical skills in evaluating evidence.

In module two attendees have the opportunity to develop the framework of skills for the assessment, diagnosis and idiosyncratic psychological formulations of trauma related needs. This includes frameworks of assessment for core trauma symptoms, co-morbidities, physical health need and personal strengths and resources. Key legal and ethical issues in trauma assessments are also explored and addressed. Teaching in this module has a strong workshop / applied practice element, which gives learners the opportunity to develop and reflect on skill development. A ‘mainstreaming’ approach is taken throughout this module, with each lecture presenting evidence and practice guidance according to key inclusivity factors of gender and ethnicity and consideration of the personal context of those with trauma needs.

In module three attendees will have the opportunity to develop the framework of practice skills needed for idiosyncratic treatment approaches for a range of trauma related needs. This includes adopting a holistic approach to trauma which considers core trauma symptoms as well as common comorbidities, including psychological and physical wellbeing. A wide range of psychological models that have been applied to trauma are presented and reviewed. This module has a strong focus on ‘workshop’ style teaching with experiential learning and roles plays throughout to give learners the opportunity to practice and receive feedback on their work. As this with the assessment module, a ‘mainstreaming’ approach is taken to ensure that learners are aware of the needs of different populations and of the limitations of current evidence and practice.

In module four attendees focus on developing knowledge and skills to work with a wide range of specialist trauma populations. Specific population addressed in this module children and adolescents, developmental disorder, older adults, LGBTQ+, brain injury, sensory impaired, displaced people, survivors of sexual trafficking, sex workers, homeless people, and forensic & Prison populations. In addition, populations who are at risk of developing trauma needs as a result of their job role, such as members of the military and emergency response services are also considered. As with the assessment and treatment modules, teaching has both lecture and workshop components to allow for the acquisition of knowledge as well as developing applied skills.

Module five focuses on developing ‘healthy’ trauma informed services and systems, focusing a whole systems approach to trauma care. The importance of engaging and working with organisational leadership, and continued investment in staff support are central to the module. The module also contains teaching on incident management, post incident briefing and models of staff support to address secondary trauma. This module also addresses the legal contexts generated in trauma focused care, including working as an expert witness. Models of trauma informed care for secure services, children’s services, schools, inpatient services and community services are also addressed. This module also continues to address the importance of self-care and support when working in this speciality.

Module six, which focuses on developing qualitative and quantitative research and service evaluation skills, is taught throughout the masters. Teaching focuses on learning about methodologies commonly used within trauma related evaluations and research. Throughout the importance of co-production approaches and service user valued outcomes are stressed. The module culminates in a 10,000-word dissertation project.

The overarching educational aims of the MSc are to equip students with the theoretical frameworks, clinical, research and leadership skills to develop, deliver and evaluate interventions, services and organisational frameworks that mitigate the impact of psychological trauma and reduce the likelihood of re-traumatisation. Subordinate aims include@

To develop a strong theory driven knowledge base of the lifelong impact to the whole person, of experiencing trauma, and to apply this knowledge to clinical, research and service development activities.

To develop the theoretical and applied skills appropriate to function at the Level 3 ‘trauma expert’ competences outlined by the British Psychological Society

To develop the ability to design, implement, evaluate, and reflect on specialist trauma assessments and interventions in primary, secondary, community, specialist inpatient and secure settings.

To be able to design, implement, analysis and reflect and implement change relating to service development reviews and innovations

To recognise the complexities and vulnerabilities of those who have experienced profound trauma and work within an ethical framework to promote the wellbeing of service users and practitioners

To develop skills to practice autonomously to design, analyse and disseminate research in the field of psychological trauma

To promote the field of psychological trauma in social, cultural, organisational, professional, research and political contexts

British Psychological Society



The British Psychological Society’s trauma competencies framework: Recommendations for education and training of psychologists when working with psychological trauma



The British Psychological Society’s guidance on Taking trauma related work home: Advise for reducing the likelihood of secondary trauma: Link



The British Psychological Society’s Code of Ethics and Conduct (2018) Link





The British Psychological Society’s Regulations for the Society’s Postgraduate Qualifications (2018)

Link



The British Psychological Society’s standards for the accreditation of undergraduate, conversion and integrated Masters programmes in Psychology (2019)

Link





The British Psychological Society’s Supplementary guidance on research and research methods on Society-accredited postgraduate programmes

(Link)



The British Psychological Society’s Guidance on teaching and assessment of ethical competence in psychology education

(Link



The British Psychological Society’s Supplementary guidance for providers of accredited programmes on the roles and contributions of professional administrative staff

(Link)



• The British Psychological Society’s Supplementary guidance on the roles and contributions of psychology technical staff

(Link)



Management of Health & Safety at Work

Guidance on the how to detect the early signs or symptoms of ill health. Link



Framework for Higher Education Qualifications

(Link);

• Relevant Subject Benchmark Statement(s) (Link)

Please note: This specification provides a concise summary of the main features of the programme and the learning outcomes that a typical student might reasonably be expected to achieve and demonstrate if he/she takes full advantage of the learning opportunities that are provided. More detailed information on the learning outcomes, content and teaching, learning and assessment methods of each course unit/module can be found in the departmental or programme handbook. The accuracy of the information contained in this document is reviewed annually by the University of Buckingham and may be checked by the Quality Assurance Agency.